"When can an object be evil?" May be a promising question
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That sounds right - the palantirs are tools which can be put to evil use (or retain other impressions of previous users - e.g. Denethor's hands). But they are not evil per se. I still quite like the analogy of a computer infected with malware. It is now doing the bidding of some unintended and nefarious master, such as using its internet connection to send people spam emails or to break into their computers. No matter how bad the actions of the computer now are, it would seem odd to say "the computer has become evil!" Instead, you hope to get it decontaminated and back to normal. I think this is what peole are saying about the palantirs.

Which leads me to wonder: we seem to agree that the Ring just is evil (contrasting in some sense to a corrupted palantir). Any project tried with the Ring, or any person using it is certain to turn out evilly, directly as a consequence of having used the Ring. Moreover it seems there's is no prospect of "decontaminating" the Ring so that it is no longer like this and can be safely wielded.

If we agree that the Ring is evil, are we right there and then giving it some of the properties of a sentient thing? I mean in contrast to a computer (or palantir, perhaps) which has no inherent good/bad moral status in itself, but can be used for a good or bad purpose? Disclaimers: The words of noWizardme may stand on their heads! I'm often wrong about things, and its fun to be taught more.... Feel free to meddle in the affairs of noWizardMe by agreeing or disagreeing (politely...) with my posts! I may not be subtle, but at least I'm usually slow to anger...